1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a roller cleaning assembly which is suitable for, but not limited to, use with rollers for rolling the turf of grass surfaces such as bowling greens, golfing greens and tennis courts formed from grass.
It will also be appreciated that the term “grass or turf” used herein also includes artificial greens or turf surfaces.
The term “grass processing apparatus” shall include, but not be limited, grass- or lawn mowers; grass or turf rollers; mower- and roller combinations; roller- and spiker combinations; and like grass or turf preparation and/or maintenance equipment.
2. Prior Art
Hitherto, cleaning brushes have often been mounted on a roller attached to a lawn mower frame, and were used to clean grass clippings and debris from an external surface of a drive roller used in conjunction with rotary cutting blades in the form of a reel also attached to the lawn mower frame. The brush roller was also driven by drive means such as a drive gear assembly powered by a motor mounted to the frame. In one case, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,735, the drive gear assembly included a drive gear driven by the motor of a driven gear fixed with the brush roller and a smoothing gear for transmitting rotational motion from the drive gear to the driven gear.
Reference may also be made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,996 (Bartlett et al); U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,277 (Smith et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,433 (Westbrook et al) which all relate to roller brushes for sweeping an adjacent drive roller of a lawn mower where the roller brush is subject to operation of a drive motor for rotation. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,996, the roller brush is driven by a belt driven from a sheave fixed to a reel sheave. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,277 the roller brush can be driven to rotate in the same direction as the drive roller, or be driven counter to the rotation of the roller housing. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,433, the roller brush is subject to being driven from a belt drive, having automatic adjustment, which extends between a reel of the lawn mower and the roller brush.
Therefore, in a summary of the prior art, the use of a drive motor and associated pulleys, or sprockets, or gearing, to drive a roller brush to clean an adjacent roller, is expensive to manufacture and/or difficult to install or dismantle. It is also time consuming and inefficient in operation, as the clippings often drop to the ground, which is especially damaging if grub or moth larvae are carried on the clippings as they can cause disease(s) in the grass or turf.